Unleash your inner ninja... 2.0

Unleash your inner ninja... 2.0

After a hiatus from the blogosphere I've decided to return to collect my thoughts on Team Ninja's latest. Playing Ninja Gaiden II makes me wonder why they made so many fighting games when they have such talent for action games.

Anyways, I'm getting towards the end of it now, and the experience I've accumulated thus far in this violent realm urges me to express my opinion. I feel especially obligated to do my part in neutralizing the negative vibes being propagated all over the internet by reviews such as the one here on 1up.

I'm a grizzled veteran of the original, which I replayed prior to the release of this one. I can confidently proclaim, in no uncertain terms, that the core gameplay here, the combat, is better than the first. It's fast, intense, and extremely bloody. The dismemberments and obliteration techniques add further depth to what was arguably the best fighting engine in the action genre. The progression of the levels is more streamlined this time around too, due to addition frequent checkpoints and item/essence chests that litter the areas. This also encourages more liberal use of ninpo (a precious commodity in the original), making for flashier encounters. Though the level design is more linear this time around, it seems to be a fair trade-off for the more varied settings and break-neck pacing. The again, some people might prefer the the more adventure-orientated world of the first. I'm not too sure where I stand on it yet. At any rate, that's a matter of taste.

As for that fucking camera... Nah, it really isn't as bad as reviews make it sound. It is pretty bare-bones, but it isn't any worse than the first (in fact, you can customize the sensitivity this time), and it didn't get nearly as much grief back then. The amount of hindrance it causes is inversely proportional to your own competence. Seriously, just block and evade and you'll be fine. Managing the camera isn't quite as difficult as reviewers will have you believe.

Now I'm going to bitch. But what's left to bitch about? Well, I'm going to focus on the things that don't get attention anywhere. Stuff that actually does hold the game back but apparently isn't perceptible to a lot of people. First, the music. There were some pretty catchy tunes and moody soundscapes in the first one, but here the soundtrack is mostly generic crap, which I find extremely disappointing. Secondly, the story. Okay, this one did get called out in most reviews, but not nearly enough. Simply put, it's laughably bad. To quote Angry Videogame Nerd, it's diarrhea coming out my dick. Actually, that would be a much more compelling saga than what's in this game. I won't describe it, I'll just say that the first game did it a lot better. It took the "less is more" approach; you just had to retrieve an evil blade, simultaneously exacting vengeance. That was pretty much it, barring some side plots and extraneous bits of backstory found in books. It wasn't Shakespeare, but it was mercifully understated and it pulled off the feat of motivating you without being gratuitous. This one just doesn't get that at all (though it does reference Hamlet a few times, strangely enough). Also, the boss encounters that I've been through so far aren't as interesting as the original's, but I'll post more on that once I've beaten it.

So in the end, the sequel to Ninja Gaiden is a finely-tuned, perfected machine gameplay-wise, which is a pretty big accomplishment. However, it's so lacking on some other fronts that it may not be remembered among the hardcore as the same kind of classic the first one was... But it's still fucking incredible, and I urge all action gamers to play it. More on this story as it unfolds.

EDIT: Now that I've finished it, nothing's changed. Well except that I'm even more disappointed in the bosses. They're all samish (dodge, slash, repeat), and what's worse, they recycle them all at the end! A huge step down from the original's bestiary, to say the least. In conclusion, it's still an awesome game, but it didn't leave me with as many fond memories as the first one did. Team Ninja definitely dropped the ball in certain areas (for the love of ninjas, hire new writers, composers and monster designers, please!).